The detainees of Friday’s operations include members of Jamaat-e-Islami, its student front Islami Chhatra Shibir and many absconding from the law.

According to sources, the number of detainees may be 1097 people. Among them, police held 194 in Khunla, 79 in Gazipur, 71 in Kushtia, 27 in Pabna, 58 in Bagerhat and 35 in Satkhira.

Police forces launched a weeklong drive against militants across the country from Friday.

The decision to go tough on the extremists was taken at a meeting chaired by IGP AKM Shahidul Hoque at Police Headquarters in Dhaka on Thursday, five days after the murder of decorated SP Babul Aktar’s wife Mahmuda Khanom Mitu in Chittagong.

Mahmuda’s murder is strikingly similar to the attacks carried out by suspected Islamist militants on secular writers, bloggers, online activists and people who have differing religious views.